Familia

A few years back hubby and I were really going through a rough time. I hate to be a complainer but we had bought a house that was a fixer upper and boy did that just about do us in. The renovation and remodel weren't the problem. Below is said house.

We had so many other things going on at the time that we just no longer appreciated life. So, you ask, 'what does this have to do with Personal Training?' Let me tell you. As a trainer people think I always eat well, I always feel good, and I always have my game face on. NOT the case. A few years back I had hurt my back pretty bad, while I was recovering I wrote a short story to a few publications and well, here it is. It was published on Blue Shields home page.

Make a life plan

Most of the clan, missing two

My husband and I have always been fit; we work out and try to eat healthy most of the time. As the years have gone by, and I'll tell you they have gone by fast, we have become busier and more stressed. We moved into a larger home, he changed jobs, we have 4 mouths to feed, and we were living for everyone else but ourselves and our kids. At the beginning of this year I was teaching my aerobics class, at the end of the class I could hardly stand and walking was out of the question, my husband carried me to the car. He took me to the doctors where I found out I had 3 herniated discs the worse being 4 centimeters. This was not good for the mother of a newborn. So, at this time while recovering I was scouring the internet for advice, information, anything that would help. I happened upon Blue Shield’s site and remembered their wellness program. I found lots of helpful easy to navigate information. But, back to my story...living a healthy life and having something happen to my body I wasn't in control of really depressed me. I had to figure out why my body was fighting me. What was I doing that was further damaging my way of life? I realized I wasn't living as healthy as I thought. My husband and I were always stressed, he was gaining weight, and we were taking the kids out to eat more often. I had to make a change for my kids, it still frightens me thinking about the life plan my husband and I came up with. We put our house on the market, he's been applying for other jobs in his field, and we have created a simplified way of eating at home. I craft a grocery/food list that I make each Sunday. I figure out what we are eating on each day of the week for the entire week. The easier to make meals are on the days we have sports and less time, the weekends are for more elaborate meals. NO MATTER WHAT we always eat together as a family even if it is 8:00pm. I then make a grocery list of everything I need for the meals plus snacks. We head to the grocery store one time a week and maybe make one more run for fruit and veggies (we also have a garden, tons of fun). Just putting our plan in action has helped enormously. In the evening we have more time to ride bikes, play catch/Frisbee, or kick the soccer ball around. The kids are still in bed no later than 9:00pm and order has been restored. Was it easy? No. Is it any easier now? No. Do I feel better and look better? Oh Yeah! Are my kids healthier? Yes…My back is slowly healing but my sanity has completely been restored. I eat better when I’m not stressed and I handle issues with the kids better. My husband isn’t grumpy and tired all the time, which in itself is AWESOME!!! Come up with a life plan. You are in charge of your life. Set your course of action; don’t let it be pre-set for you. Stand up and make a change! You can do it! We did.